Brown Paper Towel Program
The brown paper towels found in most restrooms across campus are compostable paper products.
Taking a step towards UK becoming a zero-waste campus, the brown paper towel composting program was piloted at the W.T. Young library in 2019. Since 2019, this program evolved into a multi-building initiative.
A 2022 study of UK’s waste found that about 10.4% of all landfill waste was composed of compostable paper products.
The Brown Paper Towel Program is being rolled out in phases:
- Paused: Taylor Education Building, Dickey Hall, and Peterson Service Building
- In development: TBD
In an effort to combat contamination, UK Recycling asks that, within these buildings, all non-compostable paper products be taken to a dedicated recycling or landfill container outside of the restroom.
Compostable paper collected for this program is transported by UK Recycling to CAFE’s C. Oran Little Research Center in Woodford County to be included with the food and other organic waste already collected throughout campus.
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